The coronavirus pandemic has not only forced states to shut down economically, unfortunately, it has also forced humanitarian responses around the world to come to a grinding halt. With Boko Haram (BH) campaigns still very much alive – tragically claiming over 70 people recently in Gubio (Borno State) – Shekau’s new call to bandits in the North West of Nigeria, asking them to join his cause, provides a worrying perspective to the decades-old insurgency. Lately, particularly since January, Nigeria has witnessed a spike in the level of insecurity. There has been a significant rise in banditry, kidnapping and farmer-herder clashes defining the BH insurgency as a resilient force despite the efforts of the Nigerian military. Indeed, the insecurity across the north has forced the Nigeria Police to withdraw in some areas for the military to take over. Read More